JapanBall

05/27/2025

NPB Newsletter: Hideto Asamura Notches 2000th Career Hit

Hideto Asamura has reached both the 300 home run and 2000 hit milestone this season. With just one week remaining until NPB interleague play begins, the top of the standings in both leagues is as tight as ever. The Hanshin Tigers still lead the Central, but the Yomiuri Giants, Hiroshima Carp, and re...

05/23/2025

🎉🐐 Happy belated birthday to one of the greatest hitters to ever step foot in the batter’s box, Sadaharu Oh!

The Yomiuri Giants slugger hit 30-or-more home runs in 19 consecutive seasons from 1962 to 1980, retiring with a world-record 868 homers. He also managed 2,786 hits, 2,170 RBI and a lifetime .301 batting average and 1.080 OPS. He also won 11 Japan Series titles as a player and 9 Central League MVPs!

05/22/2025

📍🇯🇵 Our annual NPB tour is still ongoing! Make sure to follow extrainningstravel for all the updates 🙌

05/19/2025

NPB Newsletter: Young Talents Richard Sunagawa & Yuto Akihiro Swapped in Rare NPB Trade!

https://japanball.com/japanese-baseball-news/npb-newsletter/young-talent-swapped-in-rare-npb-trade/

05/14/2025

Happy 75th Birthday to Bobby Valentine!

Here’s a great conversation we had with him back in 2020:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AdpTmWTavB4

05/12/2025

NPB Newsletter: Teruaki Sato, S***a Morish*ta Lead Hanshin Tigers to First Place in the Central League 🐯

https://japanball.com/japanese-baseball-news/npb-newsletter/sato-morish*ta-lead-hanshin-to-first-place/

05/08/2025

Happy 88th Birthday to Art Lopez 🇵🇷🎉

Born in Mayagüez in 1937, Lopez made his MLB debut for the New York Yankees in 1965 before heading to Japan in 1968, becoming the first Puerto Rican in NPB history. The outfielder played for the Tokyo/Lotte Orions and Yakult Atoms, batting .290/.334/.470 with 116 home runs in six seasons.

05/06/2025

Today we honor not one but two very special birthdays: Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese and Asian player in MLB history, who turns 81, and Willie Mays, who would have turned 94.

The two were teammates on the San Francisco Giants in 1964 and 1965. Forever legends.

05/05/2025

Happy Children’s Day!

Children's Day in Japan has been celebrated since ancient times but officially became a public holiday in 1948. It takes place annually on May 5, making it the last celebration of Golden Week.

NPB teams typically honor Children’s Day by having many local kids visit the ballpark and writing players names in hiragana instead of kanji (for Japanese names) or katakana (for foreign names) so everyone has an easier time following along!

05/05/2025

A newly uncovered 1869 Hiogo News article, brought to light by historians Rob Fitts & Yoichi Nagata, reveals that baseball was played in Kobe nearly 3 years earlier than previously believed. This pushes the origin of baseball in Japan back to July 1869!

"In 2022 Japanese baseball celebrated its official 150th birthday. Most officials and historians date the introduction of baseball to Japan to 1872 when American teacher Horace Wilson taught the game to his Japanese students. Recent research, however, has shown that the crew of the U.S.S. Colorado played against American residents of Yokohama in October 1871, and perhaps against Japanese residents of Osaka in January 1871. Now, a newspaper article shows that baseball was played as early as July 1869 in Kobe."

Read more: https://www.robfitts.com/post/newly-identified-newspaper-article-pushes-earliest-date-of-japanese-baseball-back-to-july-1869

05/05/2025

NPB Newsletter: Iori Yamasaki Extends Scoreless Inning Streak to 35 💪

Yomiuri Giants RHP Iori Yamasaki has thrown 35 consecutive scoreless innings to open the 2025 season. Yomiuri Giants starter Iori Yamasaki makes history with 35 consecutive scoreless innings to start the season, reigning CPBL MVP Ruei Yang Gu Lin picks up his first career NPB victory, Hiroshima Carp...

05/01/2025

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, here are some notable active MLB players of Asian descent!